Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
A grouch or killjoy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: grouch, killjoy, spoilsport, addle-plot, buzzkill, cold fish, dampener, downer, fun sponge, grinch, joy killer, marplot, miserabilist, party pooper, stick in the mud, wet blanket, wet rag
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A person who is aggressively intent on ruining the Christmas holidays for others.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, informal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To act like a grinch; to be a killjoy towards someone.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Named after the main character in a children's book by Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957). Coined as early as 1953, the term was initially used for a fictitious bird named the "Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch" in Scrambled Eggs Super!; it became associated with the character in a poem published in the May 1955 issue of Redbook, "The Hoobub and the Grinch". Likely a corruption of grouch.
